


The Mayor and the Lady who Loves Angels

by longhairshortfuse



Series: Ships in the Nightvale [2]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 07:38:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1932357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longhairshortfuse/pseuds/longhairshortfuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Outgoing Mayor Pamela Winchell knows she is losing everything. Her job, her office, her grip on reality, possibly her life. But there is one thing she is trying to keep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mayor and the Lady who Loves Angels

**Author's Note:**

> Old ladies rock. Just sayin'.  
>  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pdXML6y4wOk

Pamela knocked on the flimsy door. She had been there, or thereabouts, for more than fifteen minutes, pacing the dark car lot with her head down as if she might find some courage that someone else had discarded. She needed it. She had approached the door four times. Five. 

The first two times she didn't even raise a hand to rattle the door before backing away and returning to her car. On the third attempt she fled back to her car and got as far as putting on her seatbelt before resting her head on the steering wheel and breathing deeply to try to quell the panic. The fourth attempt was better, Pamela visualised herself smiling at the familiar face behind the door and being welcomed in return. But what if... Doubt caused her to pace up and down the empty lot next to the modest dwelling weighing up the possibilities. What if she did, what if she didn't, what was the worst that could happen, could already have happened. She shuddered to think about that and finally stood on the doorstep and knocked twice, quietly.

The phone call had come early in the day, the noise of the sunrise almost drowning out the buzz of her ringtone. The noise of the sunrise seemed different from usual. Pamela looked out of the window and saw a group of helicopters. Not the black ones she tried to ignore or the blue ones that did what she asked, not the bird of prey ones that had demanded such a high price for returning the children, but bright yellow like the old lead paint she had banned from public buildings as soon as she was elected. So long ago, she thought. So many challenges and changes. _I am not the same person I was back then, full of ideas, full of energy, so eager to serve my city. I could have been so much more effective, so much... more._ The phone sat silent.

Pamela dried her eyes as she turned away from the window and came back into herself. Her lucid periods were almost unbearable. The pain of remembering all she had and had not done, the credibility she had once taken for granted, the inevitability of the result of the election mere months away now. She was no longer fit to serve. She knew this better than anyone. There had been press conferences where she had lost her link with reality. She knew she had become a joke and it hurt. How naive she had been to think she could take on the role of Mayor alone and unsupported, but she had no choice. What if people found out? 

The phone vibrated again and rattled against the wooden tabletop. Pamela picked it up.  
"This is the Mayor speaking."  
"Yes, I have seen them. I don't know why they are here."  
"I will tell the blues to keep you informed, I want to know what the yellows are doing. Do not attack, do not start anything you can't finish."  
"Yes I understand. Thank you." She realised she was crying again. That happened often these days.

The phone buzzed back to life almost as soon as Pamela dropped it again. A personal call this time. She smiled at the picture on the screen, a selfie of her with a friend. She answered, buoyant once more.  
"Oh hi! It's been too, too long..."  
"Slow down sweetie..."  
"What? No. No they wouldn't do that..."  
"I'll be there. Just... just... hold on tight." So she found herself in the unnaturally dark car lot by Josie's house, afraid to knock on the door and see what was inside. 

The door opened a crack and Pamela entered the little house. Josie was there, holding on like she had been told. There was a scrap of fabric in her hand and a single bronze feather. Her face was crumpled and lined with swollen eyes and shiny trails from tears and snot.  
"They're gone, Pam, really gone this time." Quiet, almost a whisper. "Three weeks ago, they left and didn't tell me. They didn't tell me!" The small woman was shaking her head and starting to sob again. Pamela knelt in front of her friend and put her arms around her, stroked Josie's grey hair, pulled a clean handkerchief from somewhere and softly wiped Josie's face.  
"They'll be back. They always come back for you, Jo, they love you."  
"No. This is different. One came back today to warn me. It's time. All those things they warned me about are happening. Now." Josie held on to the fabric and the feather, showed them to Pamela. "I tried to stop it from leaving."  
Pamela held on to Josie, arms around the smaller woman's shoulders. Josie rested her head against Pamela's shoulder and closed her eyes.  
"It is not safe here any more. I don't have much time left before the light reaches me. I'm shit scared, Pam, and I don't know what to do." Josie was trembling. Pamela held her a little more securely and kissed the top of her head.  
"You are strong, Jo, you have been chosen for this like I was chosen for Mayor. Difference is, you're _really good_ at your part. I've been losing my mind for months. Years maybe, I can't even keep track any more." Pamela stroked Josie's face, lifted her chin and gazed into the dulled green eyes that met hers.  
"This is the first time I have really not known what is going to happen next," said Josie. "All this time, you've been off mayoring and the angels have been here with me, teaching me about the void and the light and telling me what to do. I have not been on my own for more than a few days for years. It's so lonely."  
Pamela nodded. "I get it. I get lonely in a room full of people. They have no idea. They laugh and point and wonder what stupid, insane thing I'm going to do next. I disappeared in a puff of green smoke once forfucksake and I don't remember it." Pamela shuffled up onto the sofa, pulling Josie with her, not wanting to let go the first real human moment she had experienced in... Jeez, just how long had it been?

They half sat, half lay together, sharing the comfort of contact. It had been so much easier years ago, before all this. Before Pamela was elected and Josie was recruited by the angels. Before Pamela had to cover up the existence of the angels, before Josie became so distant with her, both so busy with their own lives that they forgot to share each other's triumphs and failures.

  
Pamela sighed. "How long do we have?"  
"I don't know for sure. Maybe a couple of hours, maybe half a day. It depends on the angels' strength." Josie hitched her feet up on the sofa and wriggled over so that they lay together comfortably. "This is helping. Thanks for coming over. You''re crying, why are you crying?"  
"I know more than you think," replied Pamela, stifling her sob. "I had a call before yours." Pamela struggled to get the syllables out. "Erika. Said you would need me today. You're a fucking hero." 

Pamela knew. Pamela knew that Josie was in real danger, Josie would have to be taken to fulfil her chosen purpose. Pamela knew that failure was an option and success only a dream, that Josie would be a catalyst for saving their community, that she herself may descend fully into madness before even knowing the outcome of the battle that approached at the speed of light.  
"Hey, it'll be fine," she lied, "the Erikas have not abandoned you. They are preparing for you to be with them. You'll go do some awesome stuff then come back and I won't be mayor any more and we can.. I mean, if you want..." Pamela stopped gushing, unable to finish a lie as big as _and we will all live happily ever after._  
Josie looked at Pamela, taking in the seriousness in those deep brown eyes. "You," she said, "are a dreadful liar. You know I can always tell. Like that time you ate all the cheesecake and blamed it on little Cecil!" 

Josie smiled at Pamela's expression. "Shit, I remember that! Look at him now, you used to take him bowling after his mum vanished and collect him from re-education when he got a little bit _too_ umm... Cecil-ish."  
"Ha! I did too. We have not been bowling for so long, I regret that. Perhaps if we get through this..."  
"When. When we get through this."  
"Whatever. I regret other things. Regrets weigh me down. Maybe I can..." Josie looked into Pamela's eyes again, trying to read whatever she could in those dark irises. Pamela held her gaze.  
"I regret it too," Pamela confirmed, moving a hand to stroke Josie's hair again and kiss her friend softly on the lips. It had been so long, too long. "I love you. I always will love you."  
Josie was crying again now. Kissing and crying, salt tears seeping into the fragile kiss that neither of them wanted to shatter. 

They lay there, stroking and kissing gently with affection, stopping to stare at each other. Pamela traced the lines on Josie's face as if trying to learn it all over again. Once she had been an expert, could have drawn that face from memory and got it's raw beauty perfect. Josie was still beautiful, but in a new way. Her lines gave her a face that showed her experience and her compassion, her spirit and her humanity. Pamela wondered what her own face showed. Once, decades ago, she had been considered pretty with olive skin and jet hair that made her brown eyes sparkle out from her face. Now? Josie smiled at her. "Penny?"  
"Who the fuck's Penny?" The standard reply from all those years ago. Josie laughed.  
"When did we get so _old?_ " Pamela laughed right back. "Crept up on me. I still feel like I'm twenty inside but the mirror gives me a fucking shock every morning."  
"I feel like you're twenty inside too. Kiss me again, girl?" 

Kissing was nice, Pamela remembered they used to do it a lot. Evenings after work, sitting on a sofa much like this one, ignoring the television and making out. Once a week out for a meal at Paradise Pizza, long before Big Rico moved in, hoping the corner booth was available for them. _Ah my favourite customers, your usual table?_ Josie had a theory that the manager liked to watch them kissing and holding hands. One time she had just said "play along" and winked at Pamela, then in the restaurant when nobody was looking their way she had put her hand up Pamela's skirt and something behind the seat opposite them made a choking sound. They went to a different restaurant after that and _someone_ graffitied the sign to make it read _Tom's Paradise Pizza and Peepholes_ .

Pamela grinned. "Just remembering things," she told Josie.  
"So much to remember," Josie replied.  
"Can you remember what came after the kissing bit?"  
"I'm pretty sure it was more kissing, and maybe a bit of..." Josie stroked her hand over Pamela's cheek, her jawline, down to her collarbone, fingers fumbling with blouse buttons then slipping in under the silk to touch skin and lace.  
Pamela sighed. Yes, that was what came next. 

They moved from the sofa, careful of their years, and Josie led Pamela to her small bedroom. The room was as neat as the rest of the house, flowers in a vase on the drawers, jewellery on a stand. Not like Pamela's with yesterday's clothes waiting to be picked up and makeup spread out on the dressing table. Her face was bare today as it always used to be, before anybody cared what she looked like. They stood facing each other. Pamela stopped to meet Josie's lips as she stretched up for another kiss. Soft and gentle then hands around the back of her head, pulling her in and down. Another kiss, infused with passion. Pamela broke for an instant.  
"Jo, you sure." Not even a question.  
"Yes." No need for further words. 

They took turns at undressing each other the way they had done the first time in Pamela's bedroom while her parents watched a movie downstairs. That first time they dared each other. Just to find out what it was like to have someone else's touch. It felt dangerous, exciting, terrifying and brilliant with anticipation. How much they had wanted it, how little they knew. They had learned together how to please each other and themselves. Pamela closed her eyes. Josie was her first, her only lover. 

Naked, they traced light fingers over each other's bodies, seeking out the familiar places that felt different with added years. Skin less supple. Gravity wining against diminishing collagen. Extra marks. Grey, dry hair where it used to be bright shiny black. Pamela lifted Josie up, swept her off her feet the way she sometimes did, and laid her on her bed before climbing up beside her. They lay face to face, touching and kissing, waiting for the right moment. Josie decided when that was. She pushed Pamela onto her back and straddled the larger woman, flicking her tongue over one nipple then the other, stroking her breasts and kissing between them. Pamela sucked in a hiss of air and moaned it out, the tickle and tingle from her sensitive nipples giving her a wanting, needy ache lower down. She stroked Josie's breasts in return as Josie moved one hand down between Pamela's legs and probed gently to find her lover warm and slick. Pamela explored Josie's body with careful fingers until she located the soft, delicate folds around her clitoris. 

Josie wasn't ready yet. Pamela stilled Josie's hand, rolled her over and slid down the bed. She knelt between Josie's legs and crouched over to kiss down her stomach and to the side, to the sensitive area at her thigh. She probed a hot, soft tongue between her labia, rolling it up and down, swirling around the delicate folds of skin, feeling the clitoris harden and hearing Josie's quiet _aaaahhh_ that meant she was doing something right. Josie fingered through Pamela's hair as Pamela continued her gentle tongue movements. She explored with her fingers again and found the response she wanted. Pamela put one hand up to Josie's breasts and played with one nipple while she hardened her tongue slightly and flicked it left and right over Josie's clitoris and inner labia. Josie opened her legs wider, hooking one ankle over the edge of the bed. She tilted her hips slightly to help Pamela find _just_ the right spot. Pamela entered one finger slowly into Josie, then another, just far enough and no more. She wriggled and twisted her fingers, hoping that she could find... 

Josie's orgasm took Pamela by surprise. It came on suddenly, her clitoris pulsing, her vaginal muscles spasming and her breath coming out in gasped cries. She counted the pulses until Josie touched her hand and signalled her to stop. Josie giggled.  
"I needed that. It has been a long time since I had help."  
"I wanted to hold you there longer, sorry I..."  
"No! No, it was just right. Just exactly right." 

Josie sat up after a few minutes, looked at Pamela, and said, "Your turn, sweetie," as she got off the bed. Josie pulled Pamela up so that she was standing.  
"I don't know if I can!" protested Pamela. Josie guided Pamela the two steps backwards to the closed door  
"Remember we used to do it like this so that your parents couldn't open the door when we were busy?" Pamela remembered the thrill she once got from knowing they might get caught. Before she told her parents, not realising that they knew. Of course they knew. Her dad thought it was "a phase" and her mum was simply pleased that Pamela wasn't going to produce an unexpected grandchild before she was ready for it.

Pamela leaned back against the cold door, pushing her hips forward, feet apart. Josie knelt in front of her and teased her with a flicking tongue until Pamela swore at her. It hadn't been so long that she had forgotten what her lover liked. Soft tongue circling her clitoris, slow fingers probing the slick warmth, in a little and out, circling by the entrance to her vagina, teasing around the area as Pamela thrusted forwards more, seeking firmer treatment. A slick finger traced backwards to her other entrance and gently pried inside. More foul language told Josie she had not forgotten how to please. She rested her thumb at the entrance to Pamela's vagina, tightened her tongue to increase the roughness and the sensation, and twitched her finger in time with her tongue strokes. Pamela came hard, arching until only her head was in contact with the door, then sank to the floor helpless.

They climbed back onto the bed and lay wrapped in each other's warmth until Josie said, "I think it's time. I can see a little light." They tidied themselves up, dressed and went back to the lounge to say goodbye. But neither of them said it. They embraced for a moment, kissed gently, then Josie held the door for Pamela to leave. Neither woman showed the other her tears.

Pamela stopped her car a short distance down the street and watched in her mirror as the sunlight broke through at last onto Josie's house.


End file.
